1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an agitator tank that has a magnetic coupled mixer.
2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
Chemical compounds are typically mixed within an agitator tank that contains a rotating mixer. The mixer includes an impeller that extends from a motor located exterior to the tank. To reduce the amount of sealing required around the motor and impeller some agitator tanks employ magnetic couplers. Magnetic couplers typically have a drive magnet that is attached to a motor and a driven magnet connected to the impeller. The magnets couple the impeller to the motor, so that the impeller can be rotated without having a direct mechanical link between the two members.
Some tank batches require only periodic mixing to combine the ingredients of the tank. For example, when formulating pharmaceutical products it is sometimes necessary to mix the compounds only a few minutes every 20-30 minutes. The products are typically mixed in a plurality of tanks which each contain a separate mixer/motor assembly. Having to purchase and maintain a plurality of magnetic coupled motor assemblies can be prohibitively expensive. It would therefore be desirable to have a multiple agitator tank system which would allow one motor to operate all of the tanks.